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Cd'A exploring legal edges of disorderly conduct laws

by CRAIG NORTHRUP
Staff Writer | March 3, 2021 1:09 AM

The city of Coeur d’Alene is looking at beefing up its disorderly conduct laws in response to a surge in criminal activity in the downtown area.

Police Chief Lee White came to the City Council Tuesday night reporting on a substantial decrease in brawling, disorderly conduct and violent crimes over the past few weekends, a result he attributes to four bars — Mik’s, the Moose, the Beacon and the Iron Horse — voluntarily closing at or around midnight, rather than 2 a.m.

“The impact to this had a significant difference in the amount of criminal activity that we saw in the downtown area this last Friday, for instance,” White said. “It was about 50 percent of what it was in previous weekends.”

But that reprieve is likely to end soon. White said those four bars will once again resume normal operating hours this weekend.

“We understand this is pretty much a short-term solution the bars offered, and it was fantastic working with them through this process,” White said. “But we largely expect some of the problems we’ve been seeing previously to return once business goes back to normal.”

The four establishments in question fell under increased scrutiny in early February, when White pointed out to council an increased number of police calls to those businesses since the new year. Those four bars alone had seen 122 calls on Fridays and Saturdays from Jan. 1 to Feb. 9. Some of those calls were for violent crimes, including sexual assaults.

White had and continues to maintain the increased activity is due in no small part to the fact that Washington bars and nightclubs remained closed during the COVID-19 pandemic, pushing foot traffic — and with it illegal activity and rowdy behavior — east into Coeur d’Alene. Despite Spokane bars opening up once again, albeit under strict quarter-capacity limitations, the unruly behavior represents a pattern city officials say they expect to return this weekend, as unseasonably warmer weather is expected to drive out-of-state visitors into town in higher numbers.

The problems have pushed White to re-direct staffing into an all-hands-on-deck posture on Friday and Saturday nights, draining overtime resources in what Councilwoman Christie Wood recognized as a necessary but nonetheless unfair burden to both the police department and the rest of the community.

“We really have an obligation to the rest of the city, too,” Wood said.

The downtown concerns have also sparked a backlash against Washington visitors in recent weeks: Some Coeur d’Alene bars implemented policies to refuse service to anyone with Washington IDs. Mayor Steve Widmyer, however, stressed Tuesday night that all remain welcome to the tourist haven of Coeur d’Alene, so long as they don’t abuse the city in the process.

“We like our Washington visitors,” Widmyer said. “We don’t like our Washington visitors who break the law. I think [Washington] being closed up has caused more bodies to come downtown to drink, and more bodies mean more problems.”

The city is also going to measure the costs of installing additional security cameras and lighting in certain areas, though Councilman Dan Gookin urged that other partners should shoulder the burden of installing additional lights.

Idaho Code 18-6409 defines disturbing the peace as “maliciously and willfully disturbs the peace or quiet of any neighborhood, family or person, by loud or unusual noise, or by tumultuous or offensive conduct, or by threatening, traducing, quarreling, challenging to fight or fighting, or fires any gun or pistol, or uses any vulgar, profane or indecent language within the presence or hearing of children, in a loud and boisterous manner.”

But prosecuting that law requires a victim, something White said is often a challenge to find at 2 a.m. in a bar.

As Idaho Code 39-310 prohibits prosecuting anyone for merely being drunk in public, council voted to direct the city staff to explore language for a disorderly conduct ordinance that would focus on a defendant’s actions while intoxicated. The council voted down a separate motion by Councilman Dan English to implement a curfew to arrest the problem.

Any new ordinance, language change or change in enforcement wouldn’t be voted upon, let alone approved, for at least two weeks.

“We’re in a tough spot here,” Wood said. “We’re asking our police to just work non-stop on the weekend and bring everyone in for overtime. And it’s not going to get any better, at least for the next month.”